Court’s Question: Who has right to defend ‘Obamacare’?

A federal appeals court has requested written arguments on whether the House of Representatives and various Democratic-leaning states can step in to appeal a ruling striking down President Barack Obama’s health care law.

The question is significant because President Donald Trump’s administration isn’t defending the law. Wednesday’s filing at the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also asks what happens to the case if nobody else has standing to appeal.

Texas-based U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor struck down the law in December. Arguments on the appeal are set for July 9.

O’Connor ruled that the entire health care law was rendered unconstitutional by a 2017 congressional repeal of the law’s penalties on people who remain uninsured. Texas is leading numerous Republican-led states in arguing to uphold O’Connor’s ruling.